To speak German confidently, it鈥檚 helpful to know how to pronounce words correctly. German has lots of similar phonemes to English, which should help when pronouncing a lot of German words.
A phoneme is a unit of sound. When you put the different sounds together, they make words.
Pronouncing words in German
Some German words look the same and even mean the same as words in English but the way you say them can be quite different.
When you see the letter w, it鈥檚 pronounced vvv as in das Wetter - 'the weather'.
And if you come across the letter v, it鈥檚 pronounced fff as in vier - 'four'.
Der Schuh means 'shoe' and the sch is a shh sound. Der Schuh.
Der Sport means 'sport' and sp is pronounced shp. Der Sport.
Der Zoo is 'zoo' and the z is pronounced tss as in der Zoo.
And when you see the letters e and i next to each other as in the word mein, you sound out the second letter, the i, mein.
When the e and i are the other way around, ie, you sound out the e as in die Biene - 'the bee'.
These are some of the most common sounds to get you reading German aloud.
Take a look at the phonemes below and listen to how they are pronounced in German. You can use this page for reference when learning new German words.
Consonants
w
In German, w is pronounced like v.
- Wasser - water
- Winter - winter
- Weihnachten - Christmas
- Wasser
- Winter
- Weihnachten
v
In German, v is pronounced like f.
- viele - many
- vier - four
- Vogel - bird
- viele
- vier
- Vogel
z
In German, z is pronounced like ts.
- Zimmer - room
- Zug - train
- Zucker - sugar
- Zimmer
- Zug
- Zucker
j
In German, j is pronounced like yuh.
- Jacke - jacket
- Jahr - year
- Joghurt - yoghurt
- Jacke
- Jahr
- Joghurt
ch
In German, ch is sometimes pronounced a bit like the hiss of a cat. It doesn't feature in English, so listen to the pronunciation on the right.
- ich - I
- Buch - book
- Nacht - night
- ich
- Buch
- Nacht
sch
In German, sch is pronounced like shh.
- Schule - school
- schwimmen - to swim
- Dusche - shower
- Schule
- schwimmen
- Dusche
sp
In German, sp is pronounced like shp.
- Sport - sport
- Spinne - spider
- Sp补脽 - fun
- Sport
- Spinne
- Sp补脽
st
In German, st is pronounced like sht.
- St眉丑濒别 - chairs
- Str补脽别 - street
- stehen - to stand
- St眉丑濒别
- Str补脽别
- stehen
r
The letter r is pronounced differently from English. It is quite a raspy sound like you are gargling water.
- rot - red
- reiten - to ride
- Lehrer - teacher
- rot
- reiten
- Lehrer
ie and ei
In German it is common to see both ie and ei spellings. These vowel combinations may look similar, but they are pronounced differently. An easy way to remember how to pronounce these two letter combinations is by emphasising the second letter.
ie
The combination ie is pronounced ee.
- Biene - bee
- Frieden - peace
- Lied - song
- Biene
- Frieden
- Lied
ei
The combination ei is pronounced ii.
- Bein - leg
- mein - my
- Rhein - the river Rhine in Germany
- Bein
- mein
- Rhein
Umlauts
Sometimes, the vowels a, o and u have an umlaut: 盲, 枚 and 眉. These two dots above the vowels change the pronunciation.
盲
In German, 盲 is pronounced as an e sound, like in the English word bed.
- B盲r - bear
- 脛pfel - apples
- M盲dchen - girl
- B盲r
- 脛pfel
- M盲dchen
枚
In German, 枚 is pronounced as like er. It is similar to the or in word.
- sch枚n - beautiful
- L枚we - lion
- sch枚n
- L枚we
眉
In German, 眉 is pronounced as oo with pursed lips.
- F眉脽别 - feet
- m眉de - tired
- Br眉der - brothers
- F眉脽别
- m眉de
- Br眉der
The German Eszett - 脽
German has an additional letter, known as the Eszett or scharfes S (sharp S) - 脽. It is the same as ss. You use 脽 when it follows a long vowel or a combination of two vowels.
- wei脽 - white
- hei脽en - to be called
- Fu脽 - foot
- Stra脽e - street
- wei脽
- hei脽en
- Fu脽
- Stra脽e
When following a short vowel, the ss sound is written as ss instead.
- dass - that
- bisschen - bit
- lassen - to leave
- dass
- bisschen
- lassen
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